[c-nsp] Understanding 10G line card oversubscription

[Tony Varriale]

> I've heard "very shortly" from Cisco before. Frankly, they've got no 
> belief credits with me. Unless and until I see it, it's vapour.

We all have.  If you are considering the platform and need those 
features, get a hold of your partner and/or Cisco account team.  
Unfortunately I can't share those details/timelines.
>
> As for features - full parity with the feature set on 6500, so:
>
> L3VPN including 6vPE
> EoMPLS
> FRR
> Autotunnel
>
> And although this isn't on 6500, on a newer platform I expect VPLS for 
> good measure.
I heard that the feature will be there.
>
> Now, the chipset inside the N7k may be capable of a bunch of wondrous 
> things, but without the software it's just so much expensive fused 
> sand. I find it *extraordinarily* hard to believe they'll reach MPLS 
> feature parity with the (current) 6500 in any timescale less than 2 
> years.
Considering it's a 3 year old platform, you are asking for a lot IMO.  
The n7k wasn't really meant for what's it's doing and going to do.  Oh, 
the 6500 platform is 11 years old this year.  But, there are other 
platforms that meet your requirements.
>
> Which is a shame, because a lot of the Nexus features look great; 
> NX-OS certainly seems to have a better, newer structure and both the 
> control and forwarding plane are a lot faster on the N7k.
I'm not sure I get the shame part.  Which part is a shame?
>
> I would love to be proven wrong. Maybe NX-OS is built in such a way as 
> to permit speedy feature development. But unless and until it's 
> shipping, and the bugs are ironed out...
Any software development cycle is going to be that.  As stated above,  
Nexus wasn't really expecting to support service modules, MPLS other 
whiz bang features initially.  But, it will.  So, I think they are doing 
a fairly good job considering.

tv